Tag: entrees

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Wild Rice and Apples

Melissa King 51 Comments

Let me just say that this recipe is so good!  I wanted to do a stuffed squash for Thanksgiving and we gave this a test run yesterday.  What usually happens is that I come up with the savory recipe ideas, and my husband Marcus puts them together.  He is an amazing cook and this is one of his creations.  I am more of a baker than a cook.  He has also came up with the Pumpkin Enchiladas and the Homemade Re-fried Beans.

Stuffed-Acorn-Squash-My-Whole-Food-Life

Usually, I am not a fan of fruit in savory dishes, but the apple works so well in this!  We will definitely be bringing these to our Thanksgiving celebration.  Yes, I know mine looks slightly charred in the photo, but this is real life and in real life, food doesn’t always look pretty.  It tastes amazing though! 🙂

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Wild Rice and Apples

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Wild Rice and Apples

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Prep Time 20 min Cook Time 40 min

Ingredients

  • 1 acorn squash
  • 2-3 cups cooked wild rice
  • 3 celery stalks chopped
  • 2 large carrots chopped
  • 1 small onion chopped
  • 1 honey crisp apple diced (Another apple would work too. I just think the honey crisps have such good flavor)
  • 1 garlic clove minced
  • 1 tablespoon walnut oil (Another oil would be fine too)
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ginger
  • salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 and roast the squash for 40 minutes or until it’s done.
  2. Cook enough wild rice to make 2-3 cups of cooked rice.
  3. As the squash is roasting, chop the carrots, onion, and celery as well as mince the garlic.
  4. Add all of it to a pan under medium high heat and saute for 7-10 minutes.
  5. After the onions begin to become translucent, lower the heat to medium and add the rice and spices, including the salt.
  6. Stir well for a couple of minutes and remove from the heat. Let this mixture cool down significantly.
  7. Once the rice mixture has cooled off and is more of a lukewarm temperature, add the diced apples. You want these apples to retain their crispiness, so it is important to not add them too early or they will soften.
  8. Stir the apples in the mixture so they get coated in some of the oil from the pan. This will keep them from browning.
  9. When the squash is fully roasted, remove it from the oven.
  10. Once it has begun to cool, you can add the rice to the inside of the dish as shown and serve. Enjoy!

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Recipe Notes

Friendly tip, you can tell when the squash is done when you are able to stick a fork through the skin easily.

Pumpkin Enchiladas

Melissa King 81 Comments

Melissa let me guest post on this recipe. I’m responsible for a lot of the savory dishes on the site and while they don’t get as much attention as my wife’s amazing sweet treats, “we all gotta eat.” I’ve been wanting to try a savory pumpkin dish for the fall, and this recipe just popped in my head one day so here it is: Pumpkin Enchiladas. This pumpkin enchiladas recipe is a bit involved, but well worth it.

pumpkin enchiladas watermark

We used a dairy free cheese sauce for this recipe, so these enchiladas are vegan. 🙂  I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Pumpkin Enchiladas

Pumpkin Enchiladas

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Prep Time 9 hr Cook Time 40 min

Ingredients

    The Filling

    • 4 cup black beans (measured after soaking) This also equals about 2 cans.
    • 2 cup pureed cooked pumpkin
    • 1 sweet potato chopped
    • 6-8 vine ripened tomatoes chopped
    • 2 cups corn (please try to buy this organic)
    • 1/2 cup veggie broth
    • 2 tsp garlic powder (or 3 to 4 cloves minced)
    • 1 tsp chili powder
    • 1 tsp onion powder
    • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
    • optional: 1 jalapeno diced, seeds and all

    The Enchilada

    • (Per each one)
    • 1 tortilla
    • 3 heaping spoonfuls of filling
    • Cheese sauce
    • 1 T pistachio dust per enchilada (pistachios that have been processed into a course consistency)
    • 1-2 T diced raw red onions

    Instructions

      For the filling

      1. I soaked the black beans the night before.
      2. I also roasted my own pumpkin and pureed it myself, but pureed pumpkin in a can would also work.
      3. Add everything to the crock pot .
      4. Turn on high and walk away for 6-8 hours or so.
      5. To put together the enchilada, pick a tortilla of your choice, lay it flat, and put three good sized spoon fulls of the filling slightly off-center in a line. We used Food for Life tortillas.
      6. Next add the cheese sauce . I didn’t put an amount because really this is personal taste. Add as much to your heart’s cheese-loving content. We used our cashew cheese sauce , but you could also use real cheese.
      7. Lastly, add the red onion.
      8. Wrap the filling in the tortilla like you would a burrito or a sandwich wrap.
      9. Next, add some more cheese sauce on top.
      10. Finally, add your pistachio dust on top of the cheese sauce .
      11. I did several at once in an 8X8 baking dish and put it in the oven for five minutes or so.
      12. Remove and you are done.

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      Recipe Notes

      A tip on the filling: I did this part at night. I woke up to the most amazing smelling house. For some real heat, you can also throw in a jalapeno to really give this filling some kick. Melissa doesn’t like much spice, so I left that out of my recipe.

      The filling makes for an awesome pumpkin chili to gorge on. The pistachio dust is essential to this recipe. You can just buy pistachios and food process them until they are course. Real simple.

      Lastly, for a real cheese option, try this: melt 1 tbsp butter, 1 tsp flour- stirred till the flour smell was gone added dash of nutmeg, salt, pepper, 1/2 cup milk, whisked so it won't form lumps and once thick took off the stove and put in 1/4 cup cheese.

      I hope you enjoy. I know I sure did.

      Fried Rice with Cashews

      Melissa King 37 Comments

      My husband makes the best fried rice.  This is his fried rice with cashews.  I recently posted about his Stir Fried Quinoa, which is also delicious.  That day, we were out of some of the main ingredients so he improvised.  This is the real version.

      fried rice watermark 3

      I could literally eat this entire bowl.  Since there is wild rice as well as cashews, this can be considered a full meal and not just as side dish.  It would a great Meatless Monday dish.  This is also a meal that comes together in minutes.  I am all about easy meals.

      Fried Rice with Cashews

      Fried Rice with Cashews

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      Prep Time 20 min Cook Time 20 min

      Ingredients

      • 2 1/2 cups cooked rice (we used wild rice)
      • 1/2 yellow onion rough chopped
      • 3 stalks celery chopped
      • 1 cup chopped carrots
      • 1 cup edamame (cooked)
      • 2 tsp umeboshi plum vinegar
      • 3 T soy sauce, tamari or bragg's aminos (tamari is gluten free)
      • 1 T mirin
      • Juice of 1/2 lime
      • 2 T toasted sesame oil
      • 1/2 cup cashews chopped
      • 1 tsp garlic powder

      Instructions

      1. In a pan, saute all the ingredients except the rice and cashews, for about 7 minutes on medium high heat.
      2. Add the rice and cashews and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently. That’s it. Enjoy!

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      Recipe Notes

      If you use raw cashews, you may want to toast them for a few minutes to bring out more flavor.